DIY Pottery Barn Christmas Sign Knock-off

I just love all of the great stuff Pottery Barn has but I don't love their prices. I saw this post describing how to make a sign similar to Pottery Barn's Peace sign and knew I had to try making my own too. (My finished sign is at the end of this post.)

Unlike the girls over at 2IY, I used a 6' pine board that Jerry picked up at Menards for under $5.00. I then painted it white using acrylic paints.

 

 Sanding disk attachment for the drill.

After it was dry I sanded it to give it a little bit of a distressed look. The sandpaper I had didn't do much so I used an attachment on Jerry's drill. (I'd never used it before--scary!) It worked just ok.

Then I used MS Word to design the letters. I used Word Art to pick letters that were just outlined to save on printing cost. I printed off one letter first to see if it was the size I liked. I used it to measure off the rest of the letters. When I got the size that worked, I printed off the other letters except for duplicate letters.

I used spray adhesive to put the letters on and then traced them with a pencil. I painted the letters with red acrylic paint.

After the paint dried (I tried sanding the red letters but didn't like the look.) I gave the board three coats of varnish. This varnish was something that I already had but I think there are plenty of different kinds of varnish that would work.

 

This is not my front step. Just propping it up inside to take a photo.

This is my finished product. I was really happy with the way it turned out until...we tried it on my front step. Jerry realized that a strong wind would probably tip it over. We are trying to figure out how we can secure it somehow. Also, I wish I would have left more blank space at the bottom. I thought it would be cute to put fake presents around it or a pot of evergreens. If I do that though it will cover up the Y. 

I also thought about using it inside but I really like the look of it on the front step. It is very visible from the street and I think anyone driving by would enjoy seeing the message. We have a few days to figure out how to secure it since I don't usually decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. If you've got an idea that would help us--please share!!